Early/Late Easter : snopes.com from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year! Origins: How to determine the date of Easter, the annual Christian celebration of Christ's resurrection, is something of a mystery to the average person. Unlike most other significant dates on the western calendar, which fall either on fixed dates (e.g., Halloween is always October 31st ) or on easily-reckoned relative calendar days (e.g., Thanksgiving in the U.S. is the fourth Thursday in November), Easter moves around from year to year in order to preserve its relationship to the astronomical phenomena (i.e., the season of the year and the phase of the moon) that would have occurred at the time of the resurrection (traditionally reckoned as having taken place in 30 A.D.). In the modern era, Easter Sunday generally falls on the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (i.e., the first full moon of Spring in the northern hemisphere, or the first full moon occurring after the date of the vernal equinox).

However, since astronomical observations are variable (e.g., the date of the full moon can vary depending upon the location of the observer), the date of Easter is typically calculated from tables. We'll dispense with an explanation of how to perform these calculations (for the curious, such an explanation can be found here ) in favor of addressing the main points of the example quoted above. The earliest calendar date on which Easter can fall is March 22, and the latest date is April 25. Easter therefore took place unusually early in 2008, with its date of occurrence being March 23. The last time Easter fell on so early a date was 1913, and the next time it will do so will be in the year 2160 (not 2228, as claimed in the example cited above — although Easter will also fall on March 23 that year, it will not be the next such occurrence).

Seeing Easter fall on the earliest possible date, March 22, is an experience that has not been, and (barring some remarkable breakthroughs in longevity) will not be, witnessed by anyone alive today: It last occurred in the year 1818, and it will not happen again until 2285. The odds are considerably better for witnessing a late Easter. This year Easter falls on April 24, the second latest date on which that holiday can occur. Many people are still around from the last time Easter fell on April 25, an event which took place in 1943, and a good many people here today will likely still be around when Easter next falls on April 25, which will occur in 2038.

Last updated: 22 April 2011 Snopes Delivered to Your Inbox: Sign Up Easter 2008 is the Earliest in Nearly a Century Home Calendar Holidays Holiday News Easter 2008 is the Earliest in Nearly a Century Easter 2008 is the Earliest in Nearly a Century Published 14-Mar-2008 For the first time in nearly 100 years Easter is coming at its earliest on Sunday, March 23, 2008. The last time Easter Sunday fell on March 23 was in 1913. However, Easter can occur earlier than March 23. The earliest Easter ever recorded in the Gregorian calendar from 1753 onwards was on March 22, both in 1761 and 1818. The next time Easter occurs on March 23 will not be until 2160, and a March 22 Easter will not happen until the year 2285. The Easter date is set around the time of the vernal, or spring, equinox, when the length of day and night is nearly equal in every part of the world.

Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, according to Christian belief. Setting the Easter Date Twice a year, around March 21 and September 23, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal everywhere in the world. These two days are known as the vernal (or spring) equinox and the autumnal equinox. The vernal equinox also coincides with Easter and the holidays that are related to it. They are moveable feasts that do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars. The dates of many Christian holidays depend on the Easter date. Some of these holidays include Palm Sunday, Holy or Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Ascension Day and Pentecost (also called Whitsunday). In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred around the time of the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal equinox. Early sources showed that this soon led to Christians around the world celebrating Easter on different dates. At the end of the second century, some churches celebrated Easter on the day of the Passover, while others celebrated it on the following Sunday.

In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Easter is delayed one week if the full moon is on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover. The council’s ruling is contrary to the Quartodecimans, a group of Christians who celebrated Easter on the day of the full moon, 14 days into the month. Comparative calendars Although the Council of Nicaea established the Easter date for churches around the world, not all Christian churches observe Easter according the Gregorian calendar. Some churches still observe Easter under the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar was created because the Julian calendar was slightly too long. With the Julian calendar, the equinox date moved towards the earlier dates of March and further away from the Easter. Therefore, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar allowed for a realignment with the equinox.

According to the Gregorian calendar, Easter falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 from 1753 to 2400. In the Julian calendar, used by some eastern or Orthodox churches, Easter also falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25, which in the Gregorian calendar are from April 3 to May 10 from 1753 to 2400. In 2008 Easter Sunday falls on March 23 in the Gregorian calendar and on April 27 in the Julian calendar, when converted to the Gregorian date. In 2007 Easter fell on the same date (April 8) in both calendars when the Julian date was converted to the Gregorian date. This happens in some years, such as 20 04, 2010 and 2011. Table 1, below, shows the earliest Easter dates in both the Gregorian and Julian Calendars from 1753 up until the year 2400. The Julian calendar dates are converted to the dates shown in the Gregorian calendar. Table 1.

Earliest Easter Dates from 1753 to 2400. Earliest Easter Dates May 10, 2336 Proposed Easter Date Reforms There have been a number of suggested reforms for the Easter date. For example, in 1997 the World Council of Churches proposed a reform of the Easter calculation to replace an equation-based method of calculating Easter with direct astronomical observation. This would have solved the Easter date difference between churches that observe the Gregorian calendar and those that observe the Julian calendar. The reform was proposed to be implemented in 2001, but it is not yet adopted. Another example of a proposed reform occurred in the United Kingdom, where the Easter Act 1928 was established to allow the Easter date to be fixed as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. However, this law was not implemented, although it remains on the UK Statute Law Database.

You’ve already experienced the earliest Easter you’ll ever know | MrReid.org You’ve already experienced the earliest Easter you’ll ever know date , easter You may have noticed that the date of Easter Sunday changes every year: The date of Easter Sunday is calculated using a calendar that is based both on the Sun and the Moon* and takes place “on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon”. Because the Gregorian calendar is based on the Sun only, the date of Easter changes from year to year. The Paschal Full Moon is based not on an actual astronomical event but on historical tables established by a bunch of religious guys in 325AD, and its date can be up to ± 2 days from the actual astronomical Full Moon. The Paschal Full Moon is selected as the first of the Full Moons recorded in these tables to follow the March Equinox (also known as the vernal equinox as it is the day on which the night and day are the same length when heading into Spring in the northern hemisphere and coming from the Latin ver for spring). When a line connecting adjacent dates is drawn a pattern becomes obvious, especially when the scale is compressed.

The earliest Easter can possibly fall is March 22nd, though this is very rare, occurring most recently in 1818 and next in 2285. The next earliest date is March 23rd, as it was in 2008 and this will not happen again until 2160, by which time you will be dead. The latest date Easter can occur is April 25th, which last occurred in 1943 and will next occur in 2038. The cycle for Easter dates repeats every 5 700 000 years exactly, and the most common date within that cycle is April 19th, occurring in 3.9% of cases. Easter moving around to the extent explained above is a real pain and in my opinion we should all just agree that from now on Easter Sunday is always the nearest Sunday to April 19th. * Lunisolar calendars like this are used by many Jews, Buddhists, and some Hindus as well as those in Burma, China, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet and Vietnam.

Related posts (automatically generated): Scott Sabol's World of Weather: The Dates of Easter - Earliest and Latest Scott Sabol's World of Weather Northeast Ohio weather and science blog covering severe storms, long term outlooks, climate, behavioral meteorology, technology and other observations Thursday, March 28, 2013 Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest Who said there isn't math in The Bible. The article is incorrect. Easter falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 from 1753 to 2400. The article is below for you to check out From "The Economist".. . "...The earliest possible date for Easter occurs when the full moon falls on March 21st itself, in a year in which March 21st falls on a Saturday. Easter is then celebrated on Sunday March 22nd, a rare event that last happened in 1818 and will next take place in 2285.

The latest possible date for Easter occurs when there is a full moon on March 20th, so that the first full moon after March 21st falls a lunar month or 29 days later, on April 18th. If April 18th falls on a Sunday, then the special Sunday rule applies, and Easter is celebrated the following Sunday, or April 25th. This last happened in 1943, and will next happen in 2038. There is therefore a 35-day window in which Easter can fall, depending on the timing of the full moon relative to March 21st." Got it...and that's just the Western Church...phew. at When is Easter . . . for the next 2086 years? When is Easter . . . for the next 2086 years? Jim Frost 26 March, 2013 Spring is in the air, and Easter is coming up soon! Easter occurs on March 31, 2013, and I’ve heard people exclaim that it’s early this year.

I never really remember the date of Easter from one year to the next, but I had vague memories of it being in March not too long ago. Like any good statistician, I started wondering about the distribution of Easter dates. What dates are more common and which are less common? Is Easter in March really that unusual? Even after reading the official definition of when Easter occurs, I still wasn’t clear about the date range. Easter occurs on the Sunday that follows the Paschal Full Moon date for the year. The Paschal Full Moon is the Ecclesiastical Full Moon that occurs after March 20. Huh? So, I’m going to use Minitab statistical software to help find the answers! In this post, we’ll answer these questions about when the Western Easter occurs. In fact, we’ll assess the dates of all Easters that fall within the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar starts in 1582 and is accurate up until 4099. For once, we won’t be looking at a sample but rather the entire population of the 2517 Easters that fall within the Gregorian calendar! You can get the Minitab worksheet here .

And if you don't already have Minitab, please download the free 30-day trial and follow along! Graphing the Distribution of the Easter Dates: 1583 to 4099 When you want to get a quick feel for the data, it’s a good idea to graph the distribution . Below is a bar chart that displays the number of times that Easter falls on any given date. The graph uses codes for the dates on the X-axis. For example, M31 is March 31 and A1 is April 1. By looking at the range of the X-axis, we can see that Easter occurs from March 22 to April 25, or 35 possible dates. The broad middle of the distribution bubbles up and down around the average of 72 occurrences per date. The most common date is April 10, with 102 occurrences (4.05%). The least common day is March 23, with only 14 occurrences (0.56%). Interestingly, the last Easter that fell on March 23 was in 2008. Oh, if I had only understood the heady rarity of that date at the time!

The next March 23 Easter won’t be until 2160! You only start to get extremely rare dates for Easter with the earliest three (March 22 – 24) and latest three (April 23 – 25) possible dates. The right tail of the distribution is thicker than the left tail. This indicates that last three dates occur a bit more often than the earliest 3 dates. To illustrate this, Easter falls on the earliest date of March 22 only 0.60% of the time. The last time was in 1818 and the next time will be 2285, which is a span of 467 years! On the other hand, Easter falls on the latest date (April 25) 1.03% of the time. The last such occurrence was in 1943, and the next will in 2038, or a span of 95 years. I hope to be around for that one! Is a March Easter Unusual? My suspicion is that whenever Easter falls within March, people think it’s early. Let’s use our friend the probability distribution plot to determine how often Easter occurs in March.

The shaded area indicates that Easter occurs in March about 23% of the time, or about 1 out of every 4 years. So an Easter in March really isn’t that unusual. In fact, we only have to wait until 2016 when it occurs even earlier, on March 27. Are There Patterns in the Easter Dates? After assessing the distribution of Easter dates, I wondered if patterns exist. Specifically, if Easter occurs on date X in one year, when does it first occur on date X again? I’ll graph the frequency of the first recurrences below. The first thing that stands out in this graph is that large spike at 11 years. This bar indicates that for 1,141 Easters (45%), the date that Easter occurs in one year will first repeat in 11 years. However, we are in a time period where more Easter dates repeat in 11 years than normal. As the picture below shows, seven of the next 10 Easters repeat in 11 years. But that’s unusually high. It’s always important to understand the larger context of your data before drawing conclusions!

The other thing that stands out for me is the relative handful of years in which an Easter date can first repeat. For example, an Easter date cannot repeat in 2 years or 7 years, or any of the other large number of possibilities that are not on the graph. It’s definitely not a random distribution! While the official definition for Easter really didn’t help clarify things for me, I found that normal data analysis methodology provides a very clear picture of when Easter occurs, and what is truly unusual. 7 Deadly Statistical Sins Even the Experts Make Do you know how to avoid them? GM Arts - Calendar & Easter Calendar & Easter Notice About Easter Dating There are three possible Easter dates depending upon the year and your cultural and religious persuasion. Most Easter information elsewhere on the Web is written with the author's own circumstances foremost. This article gives just the alternatives. Definition of Easter Sunday Date Easter Sunday is the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (PFM) date for the year. In June 325 A.D. astronomers approximated astronomical full moon dates for the Christian church, calling them Ecclesiastical Full Moon (EFM) dates. From 326 A.D.

the PFM date has always been the EFM date after March 20 (which was the equinox date in 325 A.D.). Here is a table showing all Paschal Full Moon Dates: Debunking the Myths! Sadly, many definitions of Easter on the Internet and in Encyclopaedias and Almanacs are misleading, ambiguous and just plain wrong! This is obvious with the application of plain commonsense. A typical wrong definition is: This is wrong! "Easter Sunday is the Sunday following the full moon after the Vernal Equinox." Vernal means springtime, and countries in the Southern hemisphere have opposite seasons to those in the Northern hemisphere. Of course, Easter is not celebrated in September in the southern hemisphere! So the reference is really to the March Equinox, but even that is equally wrong in this definition, but for different reasons (see below). Also, I think that almost everyone reading this would assume that "full moon" refers to an astronomical full moon date.

An astronomical full moon (AFM) occurs at one instant in time, and therefore occurs on 2 dates around the world (at any instant it is midnight somewhere in the world, with different dates for locales on either "side" of midnight). Again, countries do not celebrate different Easter dates based upon their own full moon dates! And it gets worse! Many definitions misuse use the phrase "after March 21st" in an Easter definition. This usually arises because Easter is the Sunday after the first EFM date after March 20. There are two "afters" here, so the earliest possible Easter is March 22. Some people have tried to simplify this concept by using one "after" with the date to March 21, so it reads "the full moon after March 21". This logic is seriously flawed! It is further compounded with phrases like "from March 21". This is unclear whether it means "from and including March 21" or "after March 21". One bizarre encyclopaedia definition gets it so wrong that it concludes that Easter Sunday can never fall on March 22! Absolute rubbish! How are full moons related to Easter?

Astronomical Full Moons dates are not directly related to Easter dates. Easter is based upon Paschal Full Moon (PFM) dates, and each PFM is the particular Ecclesiastical Full Moon (EFM) date after March 20. EFM dates are approximated astronomical full moon dates, and are surprisingly accurate when you consider how long ago they were forecast. PFM dates are found in a table (see above). There is a table of 19 dates for the Julian calendar, and several 19-dates tables for the Gregorian calendar. From 1583, Astronomical and Paschal full moon dates never differ by more than 3 dates, even taking into account the 2-date AFMs (see above). For example, an April 11 Easter Sunday could result from: A Sunday April 4 PFM, with the nearest astronomical full moon as early as April 1 & April 2. (April 1 just East of the International Date Line, and April 2 on the Western side) A Saturday April 10 PFM, with the nearest astronomical full moon as late as April 12 & April 13.

For most Easter Sundays, the nearest astronomical full moon date can be anything from 10 days earlier (over a week before) to 2 days later (on the Tuesday after Easter). How is the equinox related to Easter? The equinox is not related to Easter! March 20 is the critical date for determining all Easters, and March 20 was the equinox date in 325 AD when the definition of Easter date was agreed. In our current Gregorian calendar, the March Equinox is one of 5 dates from March 18 to 22. What can I do when I see a wrong definition? Please ask to have it corrected! Usually you will be able to find an email address (or an editor if it's a publication). Please write, and ask them to correct their definition to: This is right! Easter Sunday is the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (PFM) date for the year. In June 325 A.D. astronomers approximated astronomical full moon dates for the Christian church, calling them Ecclesiastical Full Moon (EFM) dates. From 326 A.D.

the PFM date has always been the EFM date after March 20 (which was the equinox date in 325 A.D.). Alternatively, you can refer them to this webpage , or to the most authoritative article on Easter dating I have seen at the Astronomical Society of SA for a complete explanation. This definition is correct, and can be easily proved by checking historic Christian definitions and Easter Sunday dates. Further, this definition is accurate for each of the 3 different implementations of Easter Sunday: From 326 AD in the Julian calendar (no longer used) From 1583 AD or later in the Julian calendar, converted to the Gregorian calendar (eg Orthodox Christian churches) From 1583 AD or later with PFM dates revised for the Gregorian calendar (eg Western cultures, also used for public holidays) To Summarise ... Easter Sunday date is the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon (PFM) date The PFM is the first Ecclesiastical Full Moon (EFM) date after March 20 PFMs are pre-defined dates (see above) EFMs are approximated astronomical full moon dates, not actual astronomical full moon dates Some related facts ...

The PFM date is an EFM date that estimates an astronomical full moon date. PFM dates in our Gregorian calendar always occurs within 3 dates, before or after an astronomical full moon date. Therefore, Easter Sunday occurs around the time of an astronomical full moon, but the astronomical full moon has nothing to do with determining Easter Sunday date. Because the Gregorian March Equinox date is one of 5 dates from March 18 to 22, and Easter Sunday dates range from March 22 to April 25, Easter sometimes occurs around the time of the March equinox. But again, the March Equinox has nothing to do with determining Easter Sunday date. Almost exactly half of Western Easter Sunday dates occur on the same date 11 years later (but never more than 4 in a row). Here is a picture showing how these different dates relate to each other: The New Calendar & Calculation top The Gregorian calendar has gradually replaced the Julian calendar over a period of a few hundred years from October 1582 to re-align dates with the changing motions of the earth and moon in relation to the sun.

Christians of Western denominations have generally adopted a revised Easter Sunday calculation based upon the Gregorian calendar, which more closely aligns PFM dates with astronomical full moon dates. This revised calculation has often been used from the commencement of the Gregorian calendar. In other cases it has been applied at a later date, or not at all (eg Orthodox churches). 1583 was the first year Easter occurred with the revised calculation in the new Gregorian calendar. Devised predominantly by Lilius and Clavius, they were introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. 1753 was the first year Britain and its colonies (at that time) used both the Gregorian calendar and the revised calculation for Easter. Here's a page showing history of the major events that shaped the calendar and Easter dating methods. The Three Calculations The original calculation based on the Julian calendar The original calculation, with the Julian date converted to the equivalent Gregorian date The revised calculation based on the Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar has gradually been adopted world wide from October 1582. The last known use of the Julian calendar was by Greece in 1923, so method 1 applies only historically.

Either at the time of their calendar change or at a later date, some (but not all) regions have used the revised Easter date calculation based on the Gregorian calendar. The current Gregorian calendar is valid until at least 4099 AD. At the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, most Western churches moved from method 1 to method 3, while Orthodox churches moved from method 1 to method 2. A Country Guide Here is a guide on which method to use. It is important to check the history of the region in question to find the correct date of their change from Julian to Gregorian calendar, and if applicable, their change from the original to the revised Easter Sunday date calculation. When you know which method to use, click this link for an algorithm to calculate any Easter date Australia Has used the Gregorian calendar since settlement. Western churches & public holidays use method 3. Orthodox churches use method 2. Europe For years 326 to 1582, use method 1. What was then Italy changed calendar AND calculation method in October 1582, so for years 1583 to 4099, use method 3.

Most mainland European regions had converted to the Gregorian calendar by 1700. England For years 326 to 1752, use method 1. Adopted the Gregorian calendar in September 1752. Use method 3 for Western churches for years 1753 to 4099. Use method 2 for Orthodox churches for years 1753 to 4099. Northern America Use method 1 from 326 AD until changes as follows: Regions of Northern America under French influence adopted the Gregorian calendar in October 1582, while regions under British influence adopted both the new calendar and revised calculation from September 1752. Use method 2 for Orthodox churches after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. Use method 3 for Western churches after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. Easter Dating Links Here are some other Web pages on Easter Date Calculation. Mallen's Method - Western & Orthodox Easters 326 - 4099 The Economist explains: Why does Easter move around so much? | The Economist Why does Easter move around so much?

Mar 28th 2013, 0:03 Tweet THIS year Easter falls on March 31st for adherents to the various branches of Western Christianity, and on May 5th for Eastern Christianity. In both cases the date of Easter can vary by more than a month, falling between March 22nd and April 25th for the Western church, and between April 4th and May 8th for the Eastern church. This in turn determines the dates of public holidays, school holidays and the timings of school terms in many countries. Why does Easter move around so much? According to the Bible, Jesus held the Last Supper with his disciples on the night of the Jewish festival of Passover, died the next day (Good Friday) and rose again on the third day (the following Sunday). The beginning of Passover is determined by the first full moon after the vernal equinox, which can occur on any day of the week. To ensure that Easter occurs on a Sunday, the Council of Nicaea therefore ruled in 325AD that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

But there’s a twist: if the full moon falls on a Sunday, then Passover begins on a Sunday, so Easter is then delayed by a week to ensure that it still occurs after Passover. To confuse matters further, the council fixed the date of the vernal equinox at March 21st, the date on which it occurred in 325AD (though it now occurs on March 20th), and introduced a set of tables to define when the full moon occurs that do not quite align with the actual astronomical full moon (which means that, in practice, Easter can actually occur before Passover). The earliest possible date for Easter occurs when the notional full moon falls on March 21st itself, in a year in which March 21st falls on a Saturday. Easter is then celebrated on Sunday March 22nd, a rare event that last happened in 1818 and will next take place in 2285. The latest possible date for Easter occurs when there is a full moon on March 20th, so that the first full moon after March 21st falls a lunar month or 29 days later, on April 18th.

If April 18th falls on a Sunday, then the special Sunday rule applies, and Easter is celebrated the following Sunday, or April 25th. This last happened in 1943, and will next happen in 2038. There is therefore a 35-day window in which Easter can fall, depending on the timing of the full moon relative to March 21st. Eastern Christianity applies the same basic rule but uses the older Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, giving a different range of possible dates. This can pose problems . There have been various proposals to change the way the date of Easter is calculated. At a meeting held in Aleppo in 1997 , representatives of several churches proposed that a new system be adopted from 2001, relying on actual astronomical observations rather than tables to define the dates of the vernal equinox and the full moon. This would have ensured that Easter occurred on the same day for both branches of the church. But the proposal was not adopted. In 1928 Britain’s parliament passed a law, which has not been implemented, that would define Easter as the Sunday after the second Saturday in April.

Another proposal would define Easter as the second Sunday in April. Several churches, including the Catholic church, say they are open to the idea of setting the date of Easter in this way, so that its date varies by no more than a week. But until there is widespread agreement, its date will continue to jump around within a five-week window. (Photo: AFP) BBC Religion & Ethics - Easter: Why is it so early this year? Easter: Why is it so early this year? Thanks to rules set many centuries ago, Easter egg time is never later than 25 April In pictures: Easter Sunday Every year we are faced with the same question: will Easter be early or late? When can we expect Easter eggs to appear on supermarket shelves? Earlier and earlier, it would seem. Although the imagery of Easter may remain the same - luscious chocolate eggs, fragrant hot cross buns and newborn chicks - Easter itself is a moveable celebration, and can fall anywhere between 22 March and 25 April. But the date in which the faithful celebrate Christ's resurrection has been surrounded in controversy from early Christian times.

Lutz Doering, a reader in New Testament and an expert in calendars and festivals from the University of Durham, confirms: "According to the New Testament, Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. However, it is unclear on what day or date the earliest Christians celebrated Easter." Easter: did you know...? The earliest possible date for Easter is 22 March The latest is 25 April, which has not happened since 1943, and will not recur until 2038 Although never implemented, in 1928 the House of Commons agreed a law to fix the date of Easter on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April The Vatican approved a proposal for a fixed date in 1990. It was subject to agreement with other Christian churches and governments, and has not yet been reached Discover more about Easter with BBC Religion & Ethics Jewish roots? Dr Doering explains that there is evidence that, in the middle of the 2nd Century, some Christians celebrated Easter on 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan - that is, on the night of the Jewish Passover. They were hence known as Quartodecimans, from the Latin word for '14'.

This group saw Easter as a "Christian form of Passover, celebrated at the same time as Jewish neighbours would get ready for the Pesach meal ," he says. On the other hand, continues Dr Doering, other groups celebrated Easter on the Sunday after Passover as they saw it as something independent, a new celebration linked exclusively to Jesus' Resurrection. "Increasingly, though, the full moon of Easter was made separate from the date of Passover and set in relation to the [spring] equinox - hence the rule of thumb that Easter falls on the Sunday after the spring full moon." This early debate is well-documented by Eusebius, Roman historian and Bishop of Caesarea, who tells stories of representatives of each tradition meeting up, in the hope of persuading each other of their own tradition's superiority. According to Dr Doering, one bishop, Victor of Rome, even resorted to excommunicating the Asian churches on account of their Easter date, although other bishops disapproved of his extreme action. It looked like the only solution to this conundrum was that each faction would keep on celebrating according to their own tradition - until 325AD, date of the Council of Nicaea.

The full moon has an interesting role in the story of the Easter date controversies The First Council of Nicea was called by Emperor Constantine , in an attempt to formulate and codify the Christian faith which he had made the official religion of the Roman Empire a few years earlier in 312 AD. As well as settling other doctrinal questions, the Council aimed to resolve the issues surrounding the date of Easter, decreeing that all Christians should celebrate Easter on the same date and that this should be separate from the date of Passover. Following the Council, rules were set to determine when Easter occurs. Moveable feast It was necessary to predict the date of Easter in advance but this was dependent on the date of the full moon, but Roman astronomy was not advanced enough to provide an accurate prediction of the lunar cycle in advance. As Dr Robert Cockcroft, manager of the McCallion Planetarium at McMaster University in Canada, explains, this was resolved by the fixing of some 'ecclesiastical' dates, which differ from astronomical dates. The word 'ecclesiatical' simply means 'of the Church', or 'related to Christianity'.

Dr Cockcroft summarises the rules as follows: Easter was made a moveable feast, unlike Christmas, which has a fixed date Easter is on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon after the spring equinox The ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of the ecclesiastical lunar month The spring equinox is always on 21st March. "By fixing the [spring] equinox and the full moon in these ways.." explains Dr Cockcroft, "the date of Easter could be calculated in advance. In other words, he says, the ecclesiastical lunar months approximate the actual lunar months. "If an actual full moon occurs close to the real spring equinox, then the ecclesiastical [calculations] may force a later full moon to be used to determine when Easter occurs," he adds. However such rules surrounding the date of Easter continued to be a focal point for the Church. Julius v Gregory Until 1582, the main calendar used in Europe was the Julian calendar (after Julius Caesar) which was designed to approximate the solar year. "The solar year is the time it takes the Sun to move to the same seasonal position as viewed from Earth - e.g.

from summer solstice to summer solstice." "However ….the Julian calendar very slightly overestimated the solar year - by about 3 days every 4 centuries," he adds. This meant the Julian calendar was out of sync with the spring equinox, and by the 16th Century, Easter fell in the summertime. The Catholic Church needed a way to fix the feast within a set period of time and so in 1582 Pope Gregory XVlll gave us the Gregorian calendar. Dr Cockcroft says that the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar "corrected the accumulated drift of the Julian calendar by skipping the calendar ahead 10 days." Hence, people falling asleep on 4 October 1582 awoke the next day to find it was 15 October 1582: they had jumped 10 days. But adoption of this calendar was slow, only affecting Catholic countries at first. As Pope Gregory's reform and the related bull were not necessarily recognised beyond the Roman Catholic Church, different Christian communities were celebrating Easter at different dates again. Even today it is not universally used by all churches, although it is the standard international civil calendar.

The Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar, hence the later Easter celebrations compared to those of Western Christianity. Whatever the tradition, and computational headaches aside, Easter remains the most important feast in the Christian world, an occasion for reflection and celebration of life and hope. More on This Story How the Easter Date Is Determined 2105 * All Dates are Converted to Gregorian Calendar Dates (Julian Dates) In 325 CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox .(*) From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Easter is delayed by 1 week if the full moon is on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover. The council’s ruling is contrary to the Quartodecimans, a group of Christians who celebrated Easter on the day of the full moon, 14 days into the month. Comparative calendars Not all Christian churches observe Easter according the Gregorian calendar. Some churches still observe Easter under the Julian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar was created because the Julian calendar was slightly too long. With the Julian calendar, the equinox date moved towards the earlier dates of March and further away from the Easter. Therefore, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar allowed for a realignment with the equinox. Is there a perfect calendar? In the Gregorian calendar, Easter falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 from 1753 to 2400. In the Julian calendar, used by some eastern or Orthodox churches, Easter also falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25, which in the Gregorian calendar are from April 3 to May 10 from 1753 to 2400. In 2007 Easter fell on the same date (April 8) in both calendars when the Julian date was converted to the Gregorian date. This happens in some years, such as 2004, 2010 and 2011.

Latest Easter Dates from 1753 to 2400 Gregorian Calendar * All Dates are Converted to Gregorian Calendar Dates (Julian Dates) Proposed Easter Date Reforms There have been a number of suggested reforms for the Easter date. For example, in 1997 the World Council of Churches proposed a reform of the Easter calculation to replace an equation-based method of calculating Easter with direct astronomical observation. This would have solved the Easter date difference between churches that observe the Gregorian calendar and those that observe the Julian calendar. The reform was proposed to be implemented in 2001, but it is not yet adopted. Another example of a proposed reform occurred in the United Kingdom, where the Easter Act 1928 was established to allow the Easter date to be fixed as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. However, this law was not implemented, although it remains on the UK Statute Law Database. (*) The resolution's exact wording is unknown, so the council's precise contribution to the process of determining the date of Easter is disputed. However, according to some historians, contemporary sources (e.g.

by Epiphanius of Salamis and Socrates of Constantinople) suggest that the council decided on a Easter date after the spring equinox.

Question: What is the earliest possible date in March for Easter Sunday?
Answer: 22nd. MARCH